A support group for male victims of sexual abuse in Sussex has been awarded £364,000.

Mankind UK has received the funding from the Big Lottery fund to help support their Male Rape Matters project.

Mankind UK is a charity that offers counselling to male victims of sexual offences.

Martyn Sullivan, CEO of Mankind, said: “We are delighted that the Big Lottery Fund is continuing to support us in focusing on a new area in our work.

“There is such a limited amount of resources for male survivors in the UK, it is vital that charities such as Mankind exist and create awareness of the plight of men that have suffered sexual abuse.

“Our work not only helps the individual, but affects his personal and extended community – improving lives and creating new opportunities to flourish and thrive.

“To have the belief and backing of such a major funder sends out a really positive message of validation and hope to all those men that have suffered sexual violation at any time in their lives.”

According to statistics from the Ministry of Justice, 72000 males per year are estimated to be the victims of sexual offences and 2164 rapes and sexual assaults against males aged 13 or over were recorded by police in the year ending in September 2013.

Based on aggregated data from the Crime Surveys for England and Wales from 2009-12, among males it is estimated that less than 0.1% report being a victim of the most serious sexual offences to the police.

Alison Rowe, Big Lottery Fund spokesperson, said: “Through our Reaching Communities programme, today’s funding aims to help people most in need.

“By supporting the only male specialist support service in the South East, the grant to Mankind will help provide many men who have experienced sexual violation, with the tailored support they need to recover.”